Great incentive for any coach to come to the "graveyard."How USC's mad, irresponsible quest for football greatness ended with a raw deal
As South Carolina football hit a 25-year low following Saturday's loss to The Citadel, the man who walked out on the team mid-season will receive $1 million more than originally reported through April of 2016, according to contracts obtained by The Nerve through the Freedom of Information Act.
Already being paid the remainder of his $4.028 million salary through the end of the season despite quitting in October thanks to a controversial decision by the USC administration, Spurrier will receive another $1 million for FY 2015-16 as the final cherry on top of a sweetheart deal with Under Armour signed in 2010. The Under Armour deal has not only enriched Spurrier personally at the expense of the university over the years– he's taken a whopping $5.5 million of the total $6.2 million paid to the school in rights fees from 2010-2016 - but also prevented other programs such as men’s basketball from establishing a competitive footing.
For a coach who has earned approximately $32.5 million since 2004 as head coach of the Gamecocks according to a review of his contracts by The Nerve and whose two sons both work for him at generous salaries (Steve Spurrier Jr. earns $400,000 as an assistant coach while youngest son Scott earns $61,200 a year as an athletics administrator), one might think Spurrier doesn't need the money and perhaps would even have declined to be paid for a job he quit whether offered it or not.
One would be wrong.
As the football team has gone from being the fourth-best team in the country to arguably not even the fourth-best team in South Carolina in two short years, Spurrier's penalty for abandoning ship is to continue to draw his salary as the state's highest-paid employee and continue to cash huge Under Armour checks, the next $250,000 payment scheduled to come on Dec. 1, just three days after the Gamecocks will have ended their season against No. 1 Clemson to finish with the worst record since going winless in 1999.
In short, while it may not be great to be a Gamecock right now, it's good to be Steve Spurrier – always has been, always will be, especially when you're able to take 83 percent of a school's total payments for athletic apparel rights while saddling other programs with a product they say doesn't help to recruit.
”Spurrier’s most-recent Under Armour payment of $250,000 came on Oct. 1 – just two weeks before he officially announced his resignation (not his retirement, he made a point of clarifying) on Oct. 13.
On Oct. 18, in a guest appearance on ESPN’s College Gameday, Spurrier was asked to make predictions on a game involving another Under Armour school, Utah.
“[Under Armour CEO] Kevin Plank would fire me if I picked against an Under Armour school,” he said, smiling.
That use of the present tense speaks to the closeness of a relationship important for both men dating back to when the two first struck a deal making Under Armour the football-only apparel supplier in 2007.
Speaking to reporters at the time, Plank admitted to Spurrier being the main attraction for the Maryland-based company that in 2007 only had three schools under contract – Maryland, Auburn and Texas Tech.
.
When Under Armour became the football-only outfitter of the Gamecocks in 2007, it bumped up the $450,000 Russell Athletics paid the university annually for four sports to $1.8 million for football alone.
At the time, then-athletics director Eric Hyman hailed the agreement as “a phenomenal deal for the University of South Carolina,” while Spurrier echoed Hyman’s sentiments.
“It’s a real cool deal,” he said.
Indeed it was – for Spurrier. Whether it was for the school as a whole can be argued, because though initially lucrative for USC, its percentage of the take began to dwindle rapidly when the Gamecocks entered into a six-year contract with Under Armour through 2016 as the official outfitter of all USC athletic teams, culminating in the school's receiving just $100,000 of the $1.1 million Under Armour paid USC in FY 2014-15. By contract, the other $1 million – 90 percent of the total – went directly to Spurrier.
Suddenly, that $450,000 a year from Russell Athletic doesn't seem so bad.
In a competitive market where big-name apparel companies such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Russell Athletic, Converse and others pay millions to colleges and universities (and even high schools) for the right to outfit their teams and enjoy the prestige/exposure/brand development opportunities that come with it, the relative pittance USC has received while Spurrier has taken an average of 83 percent per year – from a low of 66 percent in FY2010-11 ($600,000) to a high of 96 percent in FY 2012-13 ($962,500) seems counter-intuitive to dealing in the best interests of the university as a whole.
“There's no question the university does what Steve Spurrier wants,” said John Crangle, executive director of the citizens watchdog group Common Cause. “You can't tell me paying him such incredible amounts of money and continuing to do so after he quit on them is in the best interests of anyone other than Steve Spurrier.”
Not only are the generous terms of Spurrier's Under Armour deal eye-opening, so is the contract language on the part of USC.
“From the (yearly) Payment, University directs Under Armour to pay the following amounts directly to the University's football Head Coach, Steve Spurrier, and Under Armour agrees to honor such request by University.”
Spurrier's payments are due “no later than July 1, October 1, December 1, and April 1,” the contract reads. Following is the entire payment schedule of the contract, with breakdowns to show how much of the total Under Armour paid directly to Spurrier:
$900,000 in FY 2010-11 ($300,000 to USC, $600,000 to Spurrier)
$950,000 in FY2011-12 ($112,500 to USC, $837,500 to Spurrier)
$1,000,000 in FY 2012-13 ($37,500 to USC, $962,500 to Spurrier)
$1,050,000 in FY 2013-14 ($300,000 to USC, $750,000 to Spurrier)
$1,100,000 in FY 2014-15 ($100,000 to USC, $1,000,000 to Spurier)
$1,200,000 in FY 2015-16 ($200,000 to USC, $1,000,000 to Spurrier)
In addition to those sums, Spurrier also received incentives totaling $50,000 – $10,000 each for going to five bowl games from 2010-2014, raising his direct compensation from Under Armour since 2010 to $5.2 million.
In fact, incentives were the only way any other university coaches could receive money directly from Under Armour, with former baseball coach (and current athletic director) Ray Tanner and women's basketball coach Dawn Staley each earning money for their incredible success. For winning back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 Tanner earned $500,000 ($250,000 each) plus $25,000 in 2012 for making the College World Series. For USC's SEC championship in 2011 Tanner earned $15,000, raising his total take from Under Armour in just three years as head coach to $540,000 – a fact not to take lightly as Tanner currently is negotiating a renewal of UA's contract.
For Staley's success in 2014-15 she earned $50,000 for making the Final Four and another $15,000 for wining the SEC for a total of $65,000. Add to that her previous NCAA tournament runs and SEC title in 2014 and her total sum from Under Armour is $115,000 since 2010.
By contrast, no men's basketball coach has earned a penny in incentives from Under Armour since 2010, and for those who know, a big reason for that is Under Armour itself.
Under Armour’s contract with USC expires June 30, 2016, and the company is interested in renewing it, according to published reports, though the details likely would change significantly without Spurrier around to take 83 percent of it.
Tanner has indicated he’s open to seeing what the market bears in terms of signing with another apparel provider, though according to the terms of the existing contract neither Tanner nor the university can enter into any negotiations with anyone else until 180 days remain on the contract, which would be Jan. 2, 2016. Under Armour also has the right of first refusal on any third-party offer extending to 120 days after the termination of the contract on June 30, 2016.
At least in principle, despite his affirmation on ESPN about still being employed with Under Armour, Spurrier briefly broke ranks with UA in a Nov. 6 visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, to attend a football game where he posed for pictures wearing a Nebraska pullover with an Adidas logo in a move that sent the Twitterverse and message boards into a frenzy of anger and speculation.
And while Spurrier has been a guest of honor for football games at Michigan and Nebraska, the players, coaches and fans he abandoned have been left to endure lows no one thought possible just two years ago, with the toughest pill to swallow coming up on Saturday when arch-rival Clemson, the team he once beat five straight times, comes to town with an undefeated season and No. 1 national ranking – two things Spurrier could not achieve in Columbia.
But rather than be on the sidelines – or in the stadium, even, on Senior Day for players he recruited – for support, Spurrier has said he won't attend.
Whether that's out of some sort of respect or the current coaches or the razzing he would invariably take from Clemson fans eager to see him on the tail end of a whipping is anyone's guess.
What is certain is that come Dec. 1, while his former players are turning in their equipment, Spurrier will cashing a check for $250,000 from Under Armour and continuing to draw his $4.028 million salary.
It's good to be Steve Spurrier. Always has been. Always will be.
As South Carolina football hit a 25-year low following Saturday's loss to The Citadel, the man who walked out on the team mid-season will receive $1 million more than originally reported through April of 2016, according to contracts obtained by The Nerve through the Freedom of Information Act.
Already being paid the remainder of his $4.028 million salary through the end of the season despite quitting in October thanks to a controversial decision by the USC administration, Spurrier will receive another $1 million for FY 2015-16 as the final cherry on top of a sweetheart deal with Under Armour signed in 2010. The Under Armour deal has not only enriched Spurrier personally at the expense of the university over the years– he's taken a whopping $5.5 million of the total $6.2 million paid to the school in rights fees from 2010-2016 - but also prevented other programs such as men’s basketball from establishing a competitive footing.
For a coach who has earned approximately $32.5 million since 2004 as head coach of the Gamecocks according to a review of his contracts by The Nerve and whose two sons both work for him at generous salaries (Steve Spurrier Jr. earns $400,000 as an assistant coach while youngest son Scott earns $61,200 a year as an athletics administrator), one might think Spurrier doesn't need the money and perhaps would even have declined to be paid for a job he quit whether offered it or not.
One would be wrong.
As the football team has gone from being the fourth-best team in the country to arguably not even the fourth-best team in South Carolina in two short years, Spurrier's penalty for abandoning ship is to continue to draw his salary as the state's highest-paid employee and continue to cash huge Under Armour checks, the next $250,000 payment scheduled to come on Dec. 1, just three days after the Gamecocks will have ended their season against No. 1 Clemson to finish with the worst record since going winless in 1999.
In short, while it may not be great to be a Gamecock right now, it's good to be Steve Spurrier – always has been, always will be, especially when you're able to take 83 percent of a school's total payments for athletic apparel rights while saddling other programs with a product they say doesn't help to recruit.
”Spurrier’s most-recent Under Armour payment of $250,000 came on Oct. 1 – just two weeks before he officially announced his resignation (not his retirement, he made a point of clarifying) on Oct. 13.
On Oct. 18, in a guest appearance on ESPN’s College Gameday, Spurrier was asked to make predictions on a game involving another Under Armour school, Utah.
“[Under Armour CEO] Kevin Plank would fire me if I picked against an Under Armour school,” he said, smiling.
That use of the present tense speaks to the closeness of a relationship important for both men dating back to when the two first struck a deal making Under Armour the football-only apparel supplier in 2007.
Speaking to reporters at the time, Plank admitted to Spurrier being the main attraction for the Maryland-based company that in 2007 only had three schools under contract – Maryland, Auburn and Texas Tech.
.
When Under Armour became the football-only outfitter of the Gamecocks in 2007, it bumped up the $450,000 Russell Athletics paid the university annually for four sports to $1.8 million for football alone.
At the time, then-athletics director Eric Hyman hailed the agreement as “a phenomenal deal for the University of South Carolina,” while Spurrier echoed Hyman’s sentiments.
“It’s a real cool deal,” he said.
Indeed it was – for Spurrier. Whether it was for the school as a whole can be argued, because though initially lucrative for USC, its percentage of the take began to dwindle rapidly when the Gamecocks entered into a six-year contract with Under Armour through 2016 as the official outfitter of all USC athletic teams, culminating in the school's receiving just $100,000 of the $1.1 million Under Armour paid USC in FY 2014-15. By contract, the other $1 million – 90 percent of the total – went directly to Spurrier.
Suddenly, that $450,000 a year from Russell Athletic doesn't seem so bad.
In a competitive market where big-name apparel companies such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Russell Athletic, Converse and others pay millions to colleges and universities (and even high schools) for the right to outfit their teams and enjoy the prestige/exposure/brand development opportunities that come with it, the relative pittance USC has received while Spurrier has taken an average of 83 percent per year – from a low of 66 percent in FY2010-11 ($600,000) to a high of 96 percent in FY 2012-13 ($962,500) seems counter-intuitive to dealing in the best interests of the university as a whole.
“There's no question the university does what Steve Spurrier wants,” said John Crangle, executive director of the citizens watchdog group Common Cause. “You can't tell me paying him such incredible amounts of money and continuing to do so after he quit on them is in the best interests of anyone other than Steve Spurrier.”
Not only are the generous terms of Spurrier's Under Armour deal eye-opening, so is the contract language on the part of USC.
“From the (yearly) Payment, University directs Under Armour to pay the following amounts directly to the University's football Head Coach, Steve Spurrier, and Under Armour agrees to honor such request by University.”
Spurrier's payments are due “no later than July 1, October 1, December 1, and April 1,” the contract reads. Following is the entire payment schedule of the contract, with breakdowns to show how much of the total Under Armour paid directly to Spurrier:
$900,000 in FY 2010-11 ($300,000 to USC, $600,000 to Spurrier)
$950,000 in FY2011-12 ($112,500 to USC, $837,500 to Spurrier)
$1,000,000 in FY 2012-13 ($37,500 to USC, $962,500 to Spurrier)
$1,050,000 in FY 2013-14 ($300,000 to USC, $750,000 to Spurrier)
$1,100,000 in FY 2014-15 ($100,000 to USC, $1,000,000 to Spurier)
$1,200,000 in FY 2015-16 ($200,000 to USC, $1,000,000 to Spurrier)
In addition to those sums, Spurrier also received incentives totaling $50,000 – $10,000 each for going to five bowl games from 2010-2014, raising his direct compensation from Under Armour since 2010 to $5.2 million.
In fact, incentives were the only way any other university coaches could receive money directly from Under Armour, with former baseball coach (and current athletic director) Ray Tanner and women's basketball coach Dawn Staley each earning money for their incredible success. For winning back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011 Tanner earned $500,000 ($250,000 each) plus $25,000 in 2012 for making the College World Series. For USC's SEC championship in 2011 Tanner earned $15,000, raising his total take from Under Armour in just three years as head coach to $540,000 – a fact not to take lightly as Tanner currently is negotiating a renewal of UA's contract.
For Staley's success in 2014-15 she earned $50,000 for making the Final Four and another $15,000 for wining the SEC for a total of $65,000. Add to that her previous NCAA tournament runs and SEC title in 2014 and her total sum from Under Armour is $115,000 since 2010.
By contrast, no men's basketball coach has earned a penny in incentives from Under Armour since 2010, and for those who know, a big reason for that is Under Armour itself.
Under Armour’s contract with USC expires June 30, 2016, and the company is interested in renewing it, according to published reports, though the details likely would change significantly without Spurrier around to take 83 percent of it.
Tanner has indicated he’s open to seeing what the market bears in terms of signing with another apparel provider, though according to the terms of the existing contract neither Tanner nor the university can enter into any negotiations with anyone else until 180 days remain on the contract, which would be Jan. 2, 2016. Under Armour also has the right of first refusal on any third-party offer extending to 120 days after the termination of the contract on June 30, 2016.
At least in principle, despite his affirmation on ESPN about still being employed with Under Armour, Spurrier briefly broke ranks with UA in a Nov. 6 visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, to attend a football game where he posed for pictures wearing a Nebraska pullover with an Adidas logo in a move that sent the Twitterverse and message boards into a frenzy of anger and speculation.
And while Spurrier has been a guest of honor for football games at Michigan and Nebraska, the players, coaches and fans he abandoned have been left to endure lows no one thought possible just two years ago, with the toughest pill to swallow coming up on Saturday when arch-rival Clemson, the team he once beat five straight times, comes to town with an undefeated season and No. 1 national ranking – two things Spurrier could not achieve in Columbia.
But rather than be on the sidelines – or in the stadium, even, on Senior Day for players he recruited – for support, Spurrier has said he won't attend.
Whether that's out of some sort of respect or the current coaches or the razzing he would invariably take from Clemson fans eager to see him on the tail end of a whipping is anyone's guess.
What is certain is that come Dec. 1, while his former players are turning in their equipment, Spurrier will cashing a check for $250,000 from Under Armour and continuing to draw his $4.028 million salary.
It's good to be Steve Spurrier. Always has been. Always will be.
